The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure

by Killian Carter

  "The way has been cleared. Hurry. Take that which you came for and flee before doom overtakes you."

  Another strong gust blew by, briefly relieving the scorching fire ahead.

  In a frenzy, Artax thrust his hands under the surface and felt for the contents of the orb. He screamed as the flames licked at his skin.

  Unfamiliar visions, some more ancient than he thought possible, flashed inside his own head. Birth. Hope. Stars. Anger. War. Passion. Death. Rebirth. The final flame. No more life. Fire? His arm was in the fire!

  His fingers wrapped around a familiar memory and he withdrew his charred arms, black fingers like gnarled twigs clutching an orb dancing with life.

  Agony tore another scream from his throat and his eyes watered.

  "Go!" The strange voice whispered with a death rattle.

  He committed the orb’s contents to memory and let it fall back into the burning sun. A red tendril reached out and welcomed it to safety.

  Another fiery tentacle whipped out, lashing at Artax.

  It struck him in the back, searing plasma making the Primelord’s punishments seem paltry in comparison.

  His body twisted as pain racked his shoulder.

  Through the cacophony of discordant senses, he willed himself to flee and shot out of the cavern.

  The melting ice speeding by offered little relief as the flames set chase.

  With all the will he could muster, Artax forced himself to speeds he had never achieved while inside another mind. He exploded from the dais, shattering it into a myriad motes of light. And he didn’t stop. He shot for the brooding clouds where the veil—the entrance to the mind—had once been.

  The air grew heavy as Marigoth’s consciousness flooded back, the thickening atmosphere slowing his progress. Artax could hardly believe the Kragak had recovered so quickly.

  He made for the clouds with renewed urgency, eager to break through before the storm could form. A searing heat burned at his ankles. He tried to stay ahead, but it slowly crept closer.

  His hand reached for the swirling mass. He was mere seconds from escape.

  Something coiled around his ankle and yanked him out of the sky. The overwhelming burning told Artax exactly what had him. He risked a glance down and confirmed the flaming whip had wrapped around his leg, not far below that, a fiery demon rose to meet him. Its violent flames spread as far as his ethereal eyes could see, blotting out even the endless sea of nodes.

  Artax willed himself higher, but the whip pulled harder still, and he slid closer to the maws of the roaring beast.

  Walls of fire rose on every side as the giant demon swallowed him.

  He looked to the sky, a shrinking disk of gray as even that was enveloped by the fire.

  Artax forced himself one more time, but for all his might, struggling was useless.

  He was trapped. He would be Marigoth’s prisoner forever.

  Lightening cracked in the disappearing gray far above.

  Thunder echoed, and the flames above suddenly abated.

  The fiery walls dropped away as a refreshing mist fell from the sky.

  "Quickly. I cannot hold him for long," the whispering voice echoed. "When the primordial tries to take you, remember that they too feared something."

  Artax didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t need to be told twice.

  Free of his restraints, he sped back towards the sky. He flew so fast, raindrops stabbed his face, but he dared not slow.

  He flung himself through the storm, and the back of his head hit the torture chamber floor hard.

  The Rivarian scientist and his Yalore assistant stood over him.

  "Are you okay, sir?" Doctor Strabb said.

  "How long have I been away for?"

  "Away?" The Doctor looked to the sleeping Kragak and back again confused. "When you reached out and touched the Kragak, you immediately fell to the ground. We thought he struck you, but the readings show he is still unconscious."

  "He’s coming back around now,” Artax said, rolling onto his knees, his head still spinning too much to stand. "Just give me a second."

  Random images flashed before his eyes, things he had seen inside the Kragak. Had they somehow imprinted on him? Something didn’t feel right.

  "Coming around?" the Yalore white-coat said. "But the readings—"

  A bleep from a medical monitor cut him off.

  "I see…"

  A sickening chortle rocked his mind. I almost had you that time, Thandrall.

  "Almost, but not quite."

  Next time you won’t be so fortunate. What is it the Terrans say? Third time lucky.

  "There won’t be a next time!" he shouted.

  "What are you screaming about?" Igra spat as she offered him a hand.

  He grabbed her arm and she pulled him to his feet with uncanny strength.

  He wobbled on his feet for a second and caught his balance. He looked to the suspension ring and saw that Marigoth’s eyes were still closed.

  His face twisted in horror.

  This is unexpected, Marigoth said without opening his mouth. A Kragak and Thandrall communicating through the Void. What did you do, Thandrall?

  Artax’s jaw hung ajar. The Void? What the hell are you talking about?

  I must rest, Thandrall. We’ll speak again soon.

  Lights flashed in his eyes as something struck him in the side of the face. He looked down to see Igra flexing her hand.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Snapping you out of it."

  Artax ignored the Shanti’s look of disdain. He didn’t care about pleasing her or her father or even the Primelord. He was just glad to have escaped a fate worse than death. Or had he? A shiver travelled the length of his spine.

  "So?" the Shanti asked arrogantly.

  "So what?" he growled.

  "Did you find what you were looking for?" she hissed.

  "I got what we need. Now, leave me be." He trudged towards the door in search of water. Pain raked his sweaty body, and his throat felt like an arid wasteland. His arm and leg burned as though the flames still touched him.

  He had the information the Table needed, but what price had he paid? And how much more would he need to pay in the future?

  His head felt different, like something that hadn’t been there before—something he couldn't put his finger on—had wormed its way inside his brain.

  Had Marigoth tainted his mind? But the Kragak seemed as surprised as he was. It must have had something to do with that whispering voice he heard. That didn’t sound like the Kragak. And what had it said about a primordial? The harder he tried to remember details the further the memory moved beyond his grasp, like a fading dream.

  Such was the way with psi-delving.

  16

  The Clouds of Ushtar

  Allora’s cockpit rattled as she dropped through Ushtar’s dense clouds. Taza held the control stick with an iron grip, feeling every minute adjustment as she followed the dotted course outlined on the nav display.

  A fork flashed in the distance, momentarily back-lighting the silhouettes of several skylands. One hulking shadow drifted too close for comfort.

  The controls pulled Taza’s hands as Allora adjusted trajectory, giving the colossal, floating rock a wide birth.

  He muttered a curse, thankful for Allora’s auto-navigation system. Without her sophisticated sensor array, he’d have to fly blind. Taza figured he could pull it off if he needed to, but taking advantage of Allora’s advanced navigation systems in such a situation offered far better odds of landing in one piece.

  Hail pelted the cockpit windows as she plunged through the grip of the storm, falling ever closer to Ushtar’s surface, hidden beneath the broiling gloom.

  Allora juddered so violently Taza lost his grip on the controls. He double-checked his crash harness just in case. Allora shifted suddenly, tossing him back and forth against his restraints. He muttered a string of curses as the controls shook wildly. He could hardly read the nav data. He
told himself that everything was okay as long as no red lights flashed on the nav board.

  The turbulence worsened, and Taza wondered whether he’d have any teeth left by the time Allora landed. She threw him back in his chair, bumping the back of his skull off the headrest. It had been designed with a Zaqaran’s head-crest in mind and sat further back than was ideal.

  "Damn piece of shit!"

  Allora exploded from under the rolling chaos. She banked against a strong current before leveling off and settling into a gentle descent.

  "That a girl," Taza muttered, patting his arm rest.

  The landscape curved away from a battered mountain range below and mottled gray terrain stretched out to meet the horizon.

  Pillars of light burst through breaks in the sky, briefly breathing green, gold, and brown into the patchy gray far below before being swallowed by the storm once more.

  A long row of rusty lumps grew from the horizon. Allora dipped sharply, translucent shapes adjusting on her nav board. A rotating yellow circle expanded, marking Mount Dradarrak as her destination. The speed readings dropped slowly as she followed the coordinates, leaving the rough mountains for fertile land.

  Taza watched as they passed over heavy machinery working in the vast fields. He could see why some called Ushtar the bread-basket of the Shroud.

  Greens and yellows eventually gave way to orange and red as agricultural land turned to dust dotted with jagged peaks that glinted like crystal as transitory sunbeams passed overhead.

  The bulk of Mount Dradarrak rose from the rusted range ahead like a giant among giants.

  "Approaching destination," Allora announced. "Executing landing protocol."

  "Thank you, Allora," Taza said clutching the controls. "I’ll take it from here."

  Taza guided Allora into a wide valley. A forest of purple trees sped by in a blur before giving way to rough grasslands. He watched a vast herd of unfamiliar beasts as they moved across the plane. The Sentinel never had much in the way of wildlife, and he hadn’t seen anything of note on Loth either. He’d read that similar sights had been common on Earth once upon a time. The herd vanished as the ship sped over foothills.

  He crested a hill and a circular valley hemmed in by orange-brown outcrops appeared in the shadow of Dradarrak. A network of structures joined by roads branched out from the valley center. A colossal gray dome dominated the other buildings. Beyond that, countless smaller structures had been built into the base of the mountains.

  "The Ushtaran’s take their mining operations very seriously," Taza whispered to no one in particular.

  "The Ushtarans manage the most extensive tridarium mines in the Shroud," Allora said. "The Mount Dradarrak Mine outputs as much as all reported Tal’Ri mines combined."

  "The Galactic Alliance would go to a lot of trouble to get inside the Shroud if they knew about those mines. I can see why the Shroud systems would want to keep their existence a secret."

  "Access to ample resources is one of many reasons the Shroud species wish to remain secluded."

  "What do they do with all that ore? In Sentinel space, tridarium is used to produce high-grade weapons and armor. The Ushtarans haven’t fought a war in centuries."

  "Fifty-three percent of all Shroud tridarium is used in heavy industry. Thirty-one percent is used in the production of andamonium. The remainder is divided between agriculture, tourism, and security."

  "Must be some crazy heavy industry they’ve got going on down here."

  "Would you like me to list each industry sector and their tridarium ore consumption rates?"

  "No." The last thing he wanted was a lecture about resource distribution on a planet he didn’t care about. He fingered the necklace pouch on his belt. "Just take us to the landing bay. I don’t plan on sticking around here any longer than I need to."

  "Affirmative."

  As Allora complied, Taza pulled a data crystal from his belt and slid it into the cockpit’s holocaster port. His finger hovered above the controls, hesitating. He withdrew his hand, unclipped the metal flask from his hip, and drew several swigs, the familiar warmth spreading comfort through his body.

  Steeling his resolve, his finger finally tapped the play button.

  Zora’s form appeared on the holocaster platform. The three-dimensional projection fizzled in and out of existence before settling. She wore her black TEK and her usual stony expression, but something seemed off. Taza couldn’t put his finger on it before, but he suddenly realized that her eyes had lost some of their luster. He started to wonder what that meant when the projection spoke.

  "On one hand, I hate myself for saying goodbye like this." Her voice sounded so solemn he almost believed her. She was a good actor. He had to give her that. "On the other, I know it’s the only way. If I’d seen you in person again before your assignment, I don’t think I could have accepted my own mission…especially knowing what is likely to come. The oracle-drive might be useless at this point, but much of what I do now is because of something I saw a long time ago. Before I knew anything about the oracle-drive…or the Omnion for that matter."

  "Then you shouldn’t have made me fall for you, dammit!" Taza punched the dash and the figure fizzled again.

  Zora shook her head. "But I guess none of that matters now. They’re sending me to investigate something. Master Wu and the others don’t expect me to be gone for long, but I don’t know if I’ll be back. That’s what hurts the most…knowing that I’ll never see you again. I’m sorry for burning hot and cold…for playing you. I won’t try to justify that, but I want you to know that I had my reasons, and those reasons included making sure you stayed alive. I can’t explain everything in this message…and perhaps I never will…but if nothing else, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. No matter what, do not come looking for me. I’m taking a great risk sending you this message, but I felt I had to tell you. Don’t share this with anyone. Not even with Master Wu…Especially not with Master Wu. It would ruin everything."

  Zora’s cheeks suddenly blushed and some luster returned to her eyes. "I want you to know that even if it never seemed like it…I do love you." She paused as her words hung in the cockpit.

  Taza raised his flask to her and the projection flashed white as the message ended. "Fucking women."

  He took several gulps and wiped his beard with the back of his hand before returning the flask. He punched the controls before the holocaster could play the message again. No woman had ever made him feel like Zora had, but no woman had tortured him as much either.

  He sniffed and ran his hand through his beard, wondering how she knew they would never see each other again despite the oracle-drive no longer working. Had she come across Ancient technology in the past? Had something happened on board the Orinmore? Why keep it a secret from the Omnion?

  "If you’re somewhere on this damn planet, I’ll find you, and this time you’ll tell me what the hell is going on."

  When Wu had informed him of Zora’s disappearance, Taza hardly believed his ears. He still hadn’t accepted that something had possibly happened to her. It took everything in him not to share the message with Wu during their meeting, but something in the way Zora pleaded twisted his gut. She’d never sounded that desperate before.

  If she doesn’t trust the Omnion, why did she hang on their every word?

  He had so many questions and no way of answering them…yet.

  Rather than make him feel better, the thought widened the void in his chest. Deep down, he knew he would do anything to see Zora again, given half-a-chance.

  A crosswind caught Allora, snapping Taza back to the present.

  As Allora glided into the sprawling mine-city, he noticed a lonesome dome at the far end of the cliff base. It didn’t appear to be connected by any roads or tunnels he could see.

  "What do the Ushtaran’s use that dome for?" he asked, pressing the location on the nav board.

  "Details about that structure are unavailable," Allora answered.

  "W
hat are they hiding?" he whispered. Then again, every operation had its secrets. He recalled Wu’s instructions not to further upset matters between the Ushtarans and the Chan. The Omnion relied heavily on Ushtar’s andamonium and needed production to return to normal as soon as possible. Taza’s sticking his nose where it didn’t belong would hardly help. The more he considered it, the more he realized the Omnion weren’t as powerful as they liked others to think.

  The Ushtaran’s having a monopoly on tridarium and andamonium meant they could make powerful allies or deadly adversaries. He couldn’t help but feel like he was being dragged into another stinking political swamp.

  "Different species. Different system. Same old bullshit," he muttered. Though, he suspected it was nothing compared to whatever Grimshaw, Clio, and the others were about to walk into.

  The comms panel lit up. "Dradarrak Sky Control to the Allora."

  "Allora reading," he replied.

  "Travel to Priodome One. Sending coordinates to your docking station. Security will meet you on arrival at the Spire landing platforms."

  "Affirmative." He confirmed the route on the nav board and angled Allora towards the monstrous dome.

  "Good," the gruff voice said. "And welcome to Ushtar."

  Taza swiped the nav board and handed control back to Allora.

  She slowed her approach and drifted smoothly along the designated route, curving down towards the dome’s base. As they drew nearer, the structure blotted out the mountain and sky beyond. A thin metal frame held countless interlocking panels as big as battle cruisers together.

  An opening, so small he would have missed if not for the highlighted route on the nav screen, appeared in the center of a panel several hundred feet above the dome’s base. Allora’s engines roared as she adjusted her course. The narrow opening grew into an immense maw. The ship glided into a dark tunnel, her lights illuminating its orange-brown walls. Support rings sped by at regular intervals. A white square appeared ahead as two large doors parted, admitting Allora to Priodome One’s interior.

  On every side, gray panels stretched into obscurity, drawing his eyes to the powerful fusion reactor that hung like a sun suspended from the domed ceiling.